Elemental Status: March 2014

Elemental Status: March 2014

Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes 1.6 is due out in April and there will be a new DLC released shortly after that. It involves spouses. That’s all I’ll say.

Legendary Heroes 2.0

Also, as some of you may have heard, Legendary Heroes 2.0 has been approved and budgeted. This will be a free update of some significance. I don’t have a due date for it yet but it does have some interesting changes in it including ZOC for monster lairs and possibly some changes with regards to the way champion inventory is handled.

Other things on our “want” list for Legendary Heroes 2.0 include:

Updated diplomacy options to help build longer term relations

More performance boosts (we’re working on redoing the way trees are handled)

Some tweaks to the way magic is done

More effective alliance handling (this is something we really want to see)

Some changes to the way the Spell of Making is handled

That’s just a bit of it.

Obviously, this all boils down to having enough revenue to pay for it. The numbers for LH are quite promising. In January, about half of LH’s revenue came from the DLC. So that’s a good sign.

Next DLC

Like I mentioned, we have new DLC coming out next month. It’s already in QA. Kael has gone pretty crazy with it. Anyone from the Civ IV world knows the crazy stuff Kael can do so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. But it’s pretty neat.

But AFTER that one I have two questions I’d like to get your views on:

1. How OFTEN do you want to see new DLC? (Monthly, Quarterly, Every couple months, etc.)

2. What would you like to see our NEXT DLC be?

a. Stamps pack (for more random map generation interest)

b. More tactical battles maps

c. More magical spells

d. New factions

e. More loot

f. More quests

g. Something else (if it involves writing c++ code, it’s not DLC so has to be content that is downloadable).

I'd like to see sieges and dynasties. After that, I'd like to see a DLC with neutral villages or "city states" like Civ5. After that, more global strategic level 5 spells. After that, crafting. After that multiplayer.

I also think quarterly updates would be good. obviously we would all like as often as possible, but I think the best way to go is periodic meaningful updates. I think monthly would end up looking like updates were being churned out to make a quick buck, even if that wasn't the case.

The problem being, if it requires c++ it's not DLC, it's an expansion pack and those require a very different set of people.

Um...

I'm not able to fully parse that one out. Most I've ever done was make pages from scratch in geocities (anyone even remember those?). Does the above mean only changes within the existing framework? For example, things that could be made from inside the workshop already?

Quarterly releases on DLC, assuming that the DLC has been put through the wringer before release.

I would like to see Terrain matter more in the Tactical map. Line of Sight having importance would be nice (thinking Final Fantasy Tactics). Having a river run through the middle of a map passable by a bridge might be doable without c++ intervention.

All the DLC released so far could have been made by modders, well modders that could also create super high end art anyway. Although I don't see how spouses could possibly be added this way.

I'm looking forward more to 2.0 then any DLC. None of those options really excite me. Maybe stamps but only if there was something new about these stamps. Maps are random enough.

Other things on our “want” list for Legendary Heroes 2.0 include:

Updated diplomacy options to help build longer term relations More performance boosts (we’re working on redoing the way trees are handled) Some tweaks to the way magic is done More effective alliance handling (this is something we really want to see) Some changes to the way the Spell of Making is handled

All these sound good. Earlier and more nuanced alliances sound great. Especially if the AI forms them intelligently to handle powerful factions and can work together. Awhile ago I wrote a bit about the victory conditions in Elemental and how I thought they should be changed to make them more unique and fun.

Third: New DLC: There might be a way to put in some siege stuff without code, like new siege weapons (e.g. Roman-style ballista that has the crossbow's ability but more powerful and longer range), and defensive measures like boiling oil that you can build into cities (AoE spell that does damage over time with fire effect). Would laying down traps that damage units on a particular tile be do-able? Siege towers that give attackers initiative bonuses (like the fortifications do)?

Else, I would like more factions if they came with new faction strengths and blood types that we can use in faction creation.

Fourth: those new art assets look amazing. Are they all for FE/LH? That ogre is amazing but very different from normal FE style. Archer guy looks awesome. OMG, are those dwarves?

I definitely believe we are very lacking at items. I think the best way to look at this is the following:

(High Level, Mid Level, Low Level) X (Class, item subtype)

You have lets say 4 "Classes": The dual wielder rogue, the sword and shield (two types), the 2 hander, the hybrid/cleric/druid/whathaveyoutype, the wizard type. The item subtypes would be like hammer/axe/sword/spear/staff for weapons. Shields/Plate/Chain/Leather for armor types (magical ofcourse). Then add countless trinkets. You find out that that to have a decent and full complement, you need lets say 3 choices for each of the above subtypes. You're basically looking at a few hundred items. We're nowhere near that and it is evident in the gameplay:

My wizards are almost always using the starting staff with the bonus spell damage. I think there exists only 1 staff that is a random quest reward that is better.My warriors 90% of the time end up with the same weapon at mid/high level. Either that same Orange sword (not the -100% xp one) or that same axe or that same hammer.Same for archers.

There is middle steps - it is pretty much the basic weapon I can buy from a shop, update once with magic item and in less than 20% of the games, update finally with an uber item.

So my DLC list in order of preference?

e. More loot

c. More magical spells (remove spells from quests as random reward, make Manablast available once you get level 5 in 2 schools of casting for example. Add more relevant single target tactical damage spells so it's not just flame-dart+filler every other turn)

Actually now that I have thought about it some what I would like to see is a Stamp and Wildland DLC. Maybe throw in some more early game easier wildlands such as a undead graveyard, spider lair, Brood hive, or something else. Also more special stamps lie that life shard one or other unique locations.

ught of a relatively "cheap" but interesting way to have meaningful siege units.

Specifically, units that do 2X damage when attacking a city. It would be easy to do and result in a new line of thinking of units (units that are useful in different circumstances).

That's a nice idea. Would they be special units like ballista and catapults or a new designable unit trait? Catapults definitely are underused and unappreciated. A buff when attacking cities and maybe an earlier tech version would be cool. Or maybe even instead of a direct damage buff, which can be boring, you could use the charge/impulse xml to make it so they get a few free attacks at the start of combat when attacking a city.

What I would like to see is Maps / Fraction packs: IE, a Toikien style map with Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, Orcs and Goblins etc. A Game of Thrones map, a Wheel of Time map. Now, I know there are IP rights to those books, but something that was designed along those lines would be very cool indeed.

More quest packs, more Legendary item packs, maybe more basic items for the start of the game.

Tactical maps where the terrain plays a bigger part in the battle (buildings/Walls that block archery), trenches that slow movement, choke points (bridge battle? valley defense). hills that give height advantage or at least slow movement when attacking up slope.

Special units that have the ability to create seige units from forests so you don't have to drag them around.

First of all, Frogboy, thank you for the news on LH updates. The upcoming DLC and 2.0 sound great.

Future DLC desires?

A. More loot. In particular armor sets to be collected and very rare, but powerful weapons. I would prefer some of the latter without the big negatives that some of the existing ones have (negative 100% experience being an example of a big negative). It would be great if the loot were generated randomly (" Fire sword of life stealing", etc) but I realize this May not work with your current programming.

B. More quests.

C. More factions.

D. More Monster types.

As for changes outside the DLCs:

A. Experience and loot more appropriate to the difficulty of the monster killed or quest accomplished.

What I am really interested at after seeing the post: Frogboy, could you elaborate about the reasons a DLC with c++ coding is viewed as an expansion pack? Is it a Stardock decision to view this way, or a general market view?

But AFTER that one I have two questions I’d like to get your views on: 1. How OFTEN do you want to see new DLC? (Monthly, Quarterly, Every couple months, etc.) 2. What would you like to see our NEXT DLC be? a. Stamps pack (for more random map generation interest) b. More tactical battles maps c. More magical spells d. New factions e. More loot f. More quests g. Something else (if it involves writing c++ code, it’s not DLC so has to be content that is downloadable).

1. Quaterly, or even less, better to have large meaty DLC rather than smaller more frequent updates.

2. Dynasties, WITH the ability to marry another factions sovereign if they are still single at the time you meet the requirments for marriage.

If I had to pick soley from your list, more quests and loot, along with new factions, but I would prefer dynasties above those.